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OPERA Iowa, a division of the Des Moines Metro Opera, is performing Donizetti’s comic masterpiece Elixir of Love at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, in Roberts Theatre. No tickets are necessary for this free public performance.

Elixir of Love is a tale of star-crossed lovers who eventually find happiness in one another’s arms — but only after some hilarious intrigue.

Composed in just 14 days, after Donizetti had already written more than 30 scores, this is one of the last great opera buffas and the work that made Donizetti well known. The opera features recitative with keyboard accompaniment, and is particularly recognized for the great tenor aria “Una furtive lagrima,” a favorite of Pavarotti and others.

Opera fans — and anyone who appreciates a great love story —will have a chance to see a live performance of one of Gaetano Donizetti’s masterpieces, presented in English by one of Iowa's premier arts organizations.

OPERA Iowa is an education program of Des Moines Metro Opera. The OPERA Iowa troupe has performed throughout the Midwest and in Japan and China. The group complements its evening performances with school-day performances and classroom workshops that entertain and educate while making opera more understandable and more accessible to students and families.